BY LOIS WADSWORTH
October, 2003: Timothy
Treadwell and Amie
Hugunard arrive at
“Grizzly’s Maze” within
Alaska’s Katmai National
Park and Reserve.
T as t y T ha i Ki t ch en
NOW DELIVERING!
LUNCH SPECIAL!
Famous Original Thai Wrap
WEEKEND SPECIAL!
Honey Roasted Duck
Fresh Homeade
Mango Ice Cream!
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS, 2005.
Vegetarian &
Vegan Options
Beer on Tap &
Wine Available
Bubble Tea
11AM-9:30PM DAILY
80 E. 29th & Willamette
W il l a m et te • E ug e ne O R
302-6444
A Fool’s Paradise
Answering the call of the wild
GRIZZLY MAN: Documentary directed and
narrated by Werner Herzog. Produced by Erik
Nelson. Executive producers Erik Nelson, Billy
Campbell, Tom Ortenberg, Kevin Beggs, Phil
Fairclough, Andrea Meditch, Jewel Palovak.
Production
executive,
Dave
Harding.
Cinematography, Peter Zeitlinger. Editor, Joe Bini.
Music composed by Richard Thompson. Lions Gate
Films, 2005 R. 103 minutes.
B
Laughing Planet
You are here.
Stuff your pie-hole with tasty wholesome foods like our big
bulging Burritos, hot heaping Bowls, kickin’ Quesadillas, fresh Soups,
Salads, Salsas, and Smoothies. While you are here, enjoy the organic juice bar,
vegan-based goodies, local micro-brews, art, music and general mischief.
760 Blair Blvd. • Eugene • 541.868.0668
Mon.-Sat. 11am-10pm • Sun. 11am-9pm
Vegetarian, Vegan, Omnivore-friendly menu. Quick non-surly Service & Take Out
CARMIKE 12 CORVALLIS OR
DOORS AND BOX OFFICE OPEN
12:30PM DAILY.
SHOWTIMES FOR FRIDAY OCT. 14
THROUGH THURSDAY OCT. 20, 2005
Sneak Peak of Dreamer
Sunday Oct. 16, 4:30pm
Elizabethtown PG-13
(1:00, 1:30, 3:45, 4:15) 7:00,
7:15, 9:45, 9:55
The Fog PG-13
(1:30, 4:00) 7:00, 9:20
Oliver Twist PG-13
(1:25) 7:00
28 OCTOBER 13, 2005
Wallace and Gromit G
Corpse Bride PG
(1:00, 1:45, 3:15, 4:30*, 5:30) (1:30, 3:30, 5:30) 7:30, 9:30
7:00, 7:45, 9:15, 9:55 *No 4:30
Just Like Heaven PG-13
show Sunday
(2:00, 4:30) 7:00, 9:30
In Her Shoes PG-13
(1:30, 4:20) 7:10, 10:00
40 Year Old Virgin R
Waiting R
(4:10) 9:50
() Bargain
Serenity PG-13
Now accepting debit and credit cards.
(Visa and Mastercard)
(1:55, 4:45) 7:20, 9:40
(1:30, 4:10) 7:00, 9:40
Greatest Game Ever
Played PG
(1:45, 4:30) 7:15, 9:55
Advanced Tickets now on sale at theater
and Fandango.com. 1-800-FANDANGO
and our box office
eginning in the 1970s German film-
maker Werner Herzog made a
string of fiction films that were
strong enough internationally to make it to
our shores, such as Aguirre, The Wrath of
God (1972), Nosferatu (1978) and
Fitzcarraldo (1982) among others. He’s
always been drawn to larger-than-life char-
acters, whether fictional or actual, whose
obsessions drive them outside the norm.
Further, Herzog himself makes no distinc-
tion between his fictional film and his doc-
umentaries. Thus Timothy Treadwell, the
self-annointed Gentle Warrior and protector
of the wild grizzly bears living on the
Kodiak archipelago became a natural sub-
ject for Herzog’s cinematic scruitny.
The result is a brilliant documentary
work, shot after the death of Treadwell and
his companion, Amie Hugunard, on Oct. 6,
2003 at a remote site Treadwell called
“Grizzly’s Maze” in Alaska’s Katmai
National Park and Reserve. Very late in the
season, the campers were attacked, killed
and eaten by an old, hungry male grizzly,
not part of the group of animals Treadwell
had spent 13 summers getting to know.
Much of the film is fabulous footage of
the bears in their habitat shot by Treadwell,
which shows them fishing for salmon, run-
ning through tall grasses, fighting with one
another for dominance, approaching him
down the rapids of a swollen river — the
very picture of beautiful, untamed nature.
But Treadwell inserted himself in his casual
camping outfits and his Prince Valiant hair-
cut into the bear’s world. And he increasing-
ly turned the camera on himself, becoming
the subject of his films rather than an observ-
er of the wild animals he both loved and
feared. It’s as if Treadwell played Truth or
Dare with himself and lost, then document-
ed the progress of his delusions for us to see.
Herzog interviews a number of people
who knew Treadwell, including his parents,
who are clueless, and the woman who co-
authored Among Grizzlies and co-founded
Grizzly People with him, Jewel Palovak. It
was important for the making of the film
when Palovak, who controls the Treadwell
video archives, became a hands-on co-exec-
utive producer of the film. Like many of the
interviewees who supported Treadwell’s
work, Palovak has only good things to say
about his idealism, dedication, persistence.
She saw in Herzog “an unflinching hon-
esty” as well as a similarity to Treadwell as
“a maverick who would not give up on what
he believes in.”
As the film’s narrator, Herzog was
drawn to the project because he recognized
in Treadwell’s story the very aspects of
human nature he’s always been interested in
— “the dark side, the demons and also the
exhilarations and ecstasies,” as he put it. But
Herzog didn’t go along with Treadwell’s
cozy contact with the animals. Instead of
cuteness, Herzog said he saw in the great
bears’ eyes only “the overwhelming indif-
ference of nature.”
Others interviewed are blunt in their crit-
icism of Treadwell, and they have a point.
But I liked best the commentary of an
Alaskan museum curator of Aleut Indian
lineage. He said Treadwell had crossed a
boundary of respect carefully maintained
between humans and wild animals for hun-
dreds of years.
What happened in the final moments of
Timothy and Amie’s lives is known only to
two living people: the coroner and Herzog.
One of Treadwell’s cameras was running,
with the lens cap on. The coroner savors
sharing a few facts. But after listening to the
audio tape, Herzog recommends that it be
destroyed and never listened to again.
Toward the end of Treadwell’s life, his
filmed condescension toward his woman
companion, her senseless death and his irra-
tional mood swings show he was breaking
down. The effect of Treadwell’s vicious
rants and infantile attitudes makes it diffi-
cult for me to respect his work. But Herzog
never falters in his. You’ll have to see the
film to weigh in. Opens at the Bijou Friday,
Oct. 14. Very highest recommendations, but
with cautions.
ew